The Ridge Report for April 2015

Report

The Ridge

April 2015

Dear Parents and Friends of Forest Ridge, I hope the mild winter has treated you well and has prepared you for what is a spectacular spring and end of the school year. Recently, the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools released the results of some important research that I would like to pass along to you in their own words. I see this important study as an opportunity to get the word out to others about something you already know—there is truly a girls’ school advantage and you see it in your daughters over the years they are with us. hen the executive summary arrives, I will be sure to send one home to you. Together our investment in our girls W makes a real difference in their lives now and in the future.

Enjoy the summary below!

Mark Pierotti Head of School

Steeped in Learning: The Student Experience at All-Girls Schools The National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS) was founded with a focus on research to empower girls’ schools to make the case for all-girls education. Research findings give our member schools the opportunity to strengthen teaching and learning as well as the social and emotional well-being of students, and also help NCGS and our schools to better advocate for the unique benefits of girls’ schools.

Q. What are the most significant findings in the report?

A. Girls attending all-girls schools are more likely to have an experience that supports their learning than are girls attending coed schools (independent and public). In particular, students at all-girl’s schools report: 1. Having higher aspirations and greater motivation.

It is with much excitement that NCGS releases Steeped in Learning: The Student Experience at All-Girls Schools. This robust research report is a comparative analysis of responses to the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE), which was taken by nearly 13,000 girls attending all-girls schools, coed independent schools, and coed public schools. The girls’ responses provide unequivocal support for the value of an all-girls educational environment.

In the spring of 2013, the NAIS Commission on Accreditation started conducting a three-year study using HSSSE, which is administered by the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy at Indiana University. HSSSE is a comprehensive survey of student attitudes, behaviors, and experiences administered with the goal of generating discussions on teaching and learning and guiding student improvement initiatives. An analysis of the survey results reveals that girls attending all-girls schools are more likely to have an experience that supports their learning than are girls attending coed schools (independent and public).

2. Being challenged to achieve more.

3. Engaging more actively in the learning process.

4. Participating in activities that prepare them for the world outside of school.

5. Feeling more comfortable being themselves and expressing their ideas.

6. Showing greater gains on core academic and life skills.

7. Being and feeling more supported in their endeavors.

Copies of this report will be sent home in the near future. Be on the lookout for this exciting study. * Report prepared for the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools.

The Sacred Heart

of Building Partnerships

One of the biggest parts of my role as the Director of Women as Global Leaders is building partnerships between our school and other agencies, people and institutions. This past month, as I have travelled to Australia and Rwanda with two separate teams of people in hopes of building new learning and leadership opportunities for our students and faculty, I find myself considering the essence of community building. What does it mean to lead a partner-building process with a diverse group of folks from various cultural, educational and national backgrounds? What is the fastest way to build authentic trust? And what role does a Sacred Heart value system play in this process?

Over mid -winter break, I had the opportunity to work with our sister school in Melbourne, Australia, in exploration of a stronger Sacred Heart school bond as well as an exploration of the language of Kisha X. Palmer inclusive leadership capacity building for students. Forest Ridge Director of Women Seniors Chase Merino, Alaya Carr and Jessica Purganan, High As Global Leaders School English teacher Inga Aesoph, and Educational Technology Director Michael Smith and I spent three days visiting Sacré Coeur, Melbourne, visiting classes, discussing diversity, programmatic overlap, and a global curriculum for girls’ leadership.

Over the course of the few days we were together as a team, we were able to identify our commonalities, engage with our differences and find common ground for moving forward. While our Sacred Heart identity was a shared foundational dimension, that alone was not enough to build trust and enthusiasm. Each of us had to share our authentic selves, allow for disagreement and ambiguity, and hold faith that a common purpose would guide us towards an unexpected yet mutually beneficial goal.

Forest Ridge seniors at our sister

school, Sacré Coeur in Melbourne.

At the end of the visit, Sacré Coeur Head of School Maureen Ryan and her team of administrators and faculty committed to continuing our partnership, and we made the same commitment on behalf of Forest Ridge. We hope that this bond will enable both schools to learn from each other and create opportunities for our students to explore inclusive experiential leadership together in the U.S. and abroad. Imagine a relationship between the schools that is more than a student exchange and encompasses reciprocal teaching and learning from each other through immersive cultural experiences!

My time in Rwanda was equally inspiring and challenging in a different way.

Regina Mooney and I travelled for five days to explore a relationship with the Sacré Coeur 7th through 12th grade students pack Gashora Girls Academy, an all-girls high-school committed to educating young the cafeteria to hear leadership stories from Forest women to compete globally and contribute locally. As Dr. Mooney and I met with Ridge seniors. many of the faculty, administrators and students, it became clear that our ability to forge trust and a foundation for a relationship would be based on our ability to admit what we could not possibly know: the magnitude of implications of living in a country that is rebuilding itself after the devastating loss of genocide. By the end of our five days and numerous conversations with Rwandans from all backgrounds, we had established the very beginnings of what I hope will be a long relationship between Forest Ridge and Gashora Girls Academy. We all agreed we will explore our partnership first through teacher mentorship and relationship, and later we will explore student exchanges. The possibilities are exciting and many, and I look forward to keeping our community informed as new connections develop.

My experiences in Australia and Rwanda taught me an important lesson: the values of our school, the Sacred Heart goals, when utilized outside the classroom and in relationship building, are reliable guides to authentic trust and communication pathways. While my own faith background may not be Catholic, I can trust that the Sacred Heart goals are an inclusive framework for forging connections across cultural and international borders.

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Partnership realized W

hen we think of how “Women as Global Leaders” defines Forest Ridge, it is no wonder that we continue to open up new doors to the world

when opportunity knocks. Over the past year and a half, we have been forging a partnership with Gashora Girls Academy for Science and Technology in Regina Mooney, Ph.D. Director of Institutional Advancement

Gashora, Rwanda. With the help of Gashora founder and Forest Ridge parent, Soozi Sinegal McGill, Kisha Palmer and I have been laying the groundwork for a collaboration that makes sense as an educational opportunity for both ur schools.

A

few weeks ago, in a culminating gesture, we flew to Rwanda to experience the country and the School. I was expecting to be changed by the

adventure, but I was not expecting to fall in love with the country and its people as I did. As you may or may not know, Rwanda’s identity is shaped profoundly by the Genocide of 1994, which left over 2 million Rwandans dead. Since the country regained its independence and came under new leadership, the progress it has made is stunning. Forgiveness, peace and reconciliation are the order of the day. Entrepreneurship is everywhere. Businesses are investing, people are back to work and more children than ever are being educated.

Students discuss the Holocaust during a student presentation in General Paper class.

G

ashora Girls Academy is truly part of the new Rwanda in which, as they say, “There is no Tutsi, Hutu or Twa; there are only Rwandans.” Gashora

girls see themselves as part of the solution to rebuilding Rwanda and making it prosper. Our partnership with them provides unique learning opportunities that will forge teacher exchanges and eventually student exchanges as well. Forest Ridge teachers will witness the practical applications of the classroom experiences as Gashora girls share with them what their education means for their everyday lives.

O

ur hope is to assist Gashora in new and evolving methodologies in teaching and collaborative understandings about student assessment and

Kisha Palmer (left) and Regina Mooney, Ph.D. (far right) visit Alain Munyaburanga, Headmaster, Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology.

goal-oriented learning. If Kisha’s and my experience, are any indicator of what is to come, the reward for all parties will be in the experience itself with all its excitement, discovery, cross-cultural discourse, sharing and fun.

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True Grit

Student Data Indicator:

Dr. Carola Wittmann Director of High School

At a recent meeting of all the Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle, building leaders were asked to recommend a common student data indicator that would apply to all 11 high schools. The purpose was to identify a measurement that could be used for internal data collection while presenting a reflection of student achievement.

That charge prompted a lengthy discussion given that the

Daniel Goleman and Carol Dweck. Many teachers have

Catholic high schools range from Archdiocesan schools,

studied and utilized concepts of multiple intelligences and

such as Bishop Blanchet High School, to Catholic schools

experienced first-hand how emotional intelligence enriches

representing a specific religious charism (heritage), such as

classroom interaction. Faculty and administrators

Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, to independent

frequently reference the difference between a growth and a

Catholic schools, like Archbishop Murphy High School.

fixed mindset as explained in Dweck’s Mindset.

However, despite differences in charism or mission, all

We know that, in order to feel good about themselves,

school leaders agreed that it takes resilience to be a

adolescents need to have their non-academic strengths

successful high school student and to be able to apply that

valued as much as their academic achievements. To be

success to life beyond high school. In her TED Talk, Dr.

engaged in their world and comfortable in their skin also

Angela Lee Duckworth, Associate Professor for Psychology

means being resourceful and resilient. It requires that

at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses studying

positive attitude.

children and adults in a variety of challenging situations.

She explains how her research team visited West Point

References:

Military Academy and tried to predict which cadets would

Angela Lee Duckworth’s TED Talk http://www.ted.com/

stay in military training. In another study, they partnered

talks/angela_lee_duckworth_the_key_to_success_grit

with corporations where the objective was to figure out which salesperson would bring in the most sales and who

The Duckworth Lab, University of Pennsylvania https://

might quit.

sites.sas.upenn.edu/duckworth/pages/research

The outcome, according to Duckworth, “wasn’t social

For Educators, https://sites.sas.upenn.edu

intelligence. It wasn’t good looks, physical health, and it wasn’t I.Q. It was grit.”

GRIT Score https://sasupenn.qualtrics.com/

Duckworth’s findings are also reflected in the research by other educational professionals, such as Howard Gardner,

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Middle School Girls: Owning Their S trengths

Julie Thenell Grasseschi, Director of Middle School

Students grow in self-knowledge and develop self-confidence as they learn to deal realistically with their gifts and limitations.

(Goal 5, criteria 3)

Girls’ relational nature and concern for other people’s feelings make it challenging for a girl to name her own strengths. Asked to name a personal strength, middle school girls will say they don’t want to be conceited or will respond, “I don’t know. Can I ask my friends?”

When pushed, a girl will often reply with a list of accomplishments.

“I am a good soccer player.” “I am a great reader.” “I am really organized and neat.”

Girls don’t tend to name as strengths their interior qualities. “I am hard-working.” “I am creative.” “I am empathetic.” When a girl’s definition of herself relies primarily on what she does, on her accomplishments and on her outward appearance, her sense of self can be easily tipped off balance by a low score, a mistake or a mean comment. Fear of failure becomes a powerful motivator and can inhibit trying a new sport or taking on an academic challenge. She may take personally other people’s comments, especially perceived criticisms. She may also have a hard time finding solid footing in self-understanding because she must continually keep up outward appearances and the perception of success. This requires that she devote a tremendous amount of time and energy to maintaining her image.

When a girl becomes comfortable naming her strengths as personal qualities, she has at her disposal an invaluable tool for navigating the day-to-day world of girls. With confidence in strengths that are internal, her sense of self is not easily derailed by a bad grade or a snide comment. Instead, she develops an inner confidence about her own abilities. Her sense of self is not defined or limited by a number, an award or the approval of others. When a girl can name the qualities she admires in herself, she takes a powerful step in developing a strong interior home-base, or sense of self, a place she can come back to when presented with challenges either academic or social.

As educators and parents, the language we use and “walking the talk” become two of our most powerful tools in helping girls grow in self-knowledge and confidence about their gifts.

The language we use to praise girls or talk about failure sends strong signals about what we value. When our praise focuses on the grade or test score, we can give the impression we value performance over the internal qualities of hard-work, engagement, persistence and curiosity. When we look over progress reports with our students or daughters, do we only focus on numbers—the lowest test grade, the class where she has the highest grade? Grades are important to use as feedback, but they should not be the end goal. It is equally important to engage in a conversation about which class she feels she has shown the most resilience persistence in, the growth from last trimester to this trimester, or which class she is excited to go into each day and why. These dialogues can help us name with our students and daughters their strengths as well as strategies for addressing challenges.

Middle school girls are exceptional observers, though, and they watch what we do even closer than they listen to what we say. Are we able to name our own strengths? Are we able to admit the areas of our own lives that are harder for us or that we are still practicing to improve? This is “walking the talk.” Let your daughter see the effort you put into a project and the tasks that take more practice or preparation. Tell her what you think are your internal strengths, or those of other family members.

Middle School can be a challenging time, when a girl’s confidence often fluctuates. Helping girls know and tap into their internal strengths and understand that in doing so they don’t diminish others is one of the most effective ways to help your daughter become a confident and resilient young woman.

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Googling God I grew up in a time of transition in terms of development and use of technology as we know it today. When I was in fourth grade (1988), I typed my first research paper on a typewriter. When was the last time you held a bottle of Wite-Out®? In junior high, Tanya Lange Campus Minister & CAS Coordinator

I was among the first classes of students required to take “keyboarding” in eighth grade. By the time I made it to college, it was standard for students to purchase their own computer to bring to campus—screen, tower, wired connections and all!

Computer labs and their limited hours were still abundant at the time.

Technology is amazing! It has the ability to connect people

“Friend” the Network on Facebook, it provides a “thought

and ideas across distance. Through sites like Facebook and

for the day.”

Twitter, we are able to keep in contact with people from various seasons of our lives or meet people that we would

bustedhalo.com – All things Catholic, targeted to youth

otherwise have never had the opportunity to engage. Is

and young adults.

there a way to use technology to keep in touch with our spiritual selves? I’d like to offer a variety of websites and

Twitter Recommendations (a few of my favorites):

Twitter accounts that help me remember to slow down

Many schools in the Network maintain active Twitter

each day and connect to the One that made all this

accounts. Look them up and see what our Sacred Heart

technology possible: God!

sisters and brothers are up to!

Websites: usccb.org – This is the official website for the Conference of Catholic Bishops. There is a calendar on the main page that links to the daily readings.

Forest Ridge Campus Ministry – @FRGodSquad RSCJ USA and Canada Province – @RSCJUSC Fr. James Martin, SJ – @JamesMartinSJ A Prayer A Day – @A_Prayer_A_Day

Creighton University, http://onlineministries.creighton. edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html – This Jesuit University in Omaha, Neb., provides a variety of weekly and daily reflections, as well as opportunities for short online “retreats.” sofie.org – Network of Sacred Heart Schools. Click on “resources” for prayers and information about our founding mothers.

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Crux – @crux Most of my favorite accounts come from Catholic writers or organizations. I’d love recommendations from a variety of faiths and spiritual writers. Tweet me @FRGodSquad or email tlange@forestridge.org and share some of your favorites with me!

Student Employment at the

FRidge

My Food Literacy Journey Taylor Durham ‘11

As a graduated Forest Ridge “lifer,” I can honestly say that my job in the Forest Ridge kitchen has taught me as much as my experiences in the classroom. I joined the FRidge team looking for a convenient before-school job when I turned 16. At the time, I couldn’t have predicted how much the experience would change me.

I began by learning basic kitchen skills—how to safely use a knife to cut all manner of vegetables, how to handle food to keep it safe from contamination, how to flip an omelet with bravado at the Father-Daughter brunch. These lessons still serve me today, as I navigate any kitchen, recipe and food service job interview with ease.

Besides teaching me practical skills, working in the kitchen also brought me immense pride as a student. To see the fruits (and vegetables) of my labor served to my friends and teachers brought me the satisfaction of giving something back to my community. I benefitted from seeing my proactive prep work contribute to so many different meals. The onions I chopped in the morning became the base of that afternoon’s soups, a condiment for burgers, and flavor in a pasta salad. I was part of a team and something bigger than myself, a lesson often lost on teenagers in their first work experiences. For me, a world of possibilities bloomed in a kitchen where nothing went to waste. Old rolls became croutons, onion peels became soup stock, and leftover kimchi could be used in fried rice or even pancakes!

As my years in the FRidge continued, and my chopping speed increased, conversation became possible. Chef Ron taught me where the kitchen’s produce and meat came from and his philosophy on eating locally. His book and movie suggestions led me to Michael Pollan and documentaries critiquing agribusiness and the genetic modification of foods. Every evening, I brought home new words to look up. My vocabulary expanded to include “food deserts,” “Monsanto,” “mono-cropping” and “biodiversity.” Becoming food literate began to inform my learning in Biology class; next, my decisions at the supermarket; and later, my passion for health and nutrition that led me to study Kinesiology at Occidental College.

Each year, the FRidge hires high school students to help with food preparation and cooking before the start of the school day.

Girls work one or more days per week between 6:20 and 8:20 a.m. It is an amazing on-campus job that provides students the opportunity to earn money, gain work experience for a resume and learn valuable culinary skills.

For inquiries about work in the FRidge, please contact Chef Ron by email at raskew@forestridge.org.

Since graduating from high school, my relationships with the FRidge Chefs have continued to bring me back to the Forest Ridge community whenever possible. I have helped Chef Ron with visits to local farmers, fishers and cheesemakers; seen his vision for a campus CSA drop-off and school garden become reality; and sat in on Chef Sasha Selden’s classroom lessons on probiotics. A particularly memorable adventure led me to a local Native American artist and storyteller, as we interrupted his work on a mural in South Seattle. Our conversation led me to the realization that the art of gardening and farming itself, although lost to many of my generation, isn’t even native to the Pacific Northwest—it was imported relatively recently by European settlers. Our current environmental crisis and fractured food system has its own characters and rich history that I continue to explore.

My experiences in the Forest Ridge kitchen planted seeds that grew into the passion for health and wellness I am pursuing today. I encourage anyone who eats three times a day to seek a job in the kitchen ... you never know where it might take you!

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